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The most dangerous time in a bird's life
Jun. 26th, 2023 06:48 amAll of the Downy Woodpecker chicks have fledged. We have seen and heard them in the yard, cheeping from the tops of trees and shrubs. It is wondrous, commonplace, miraculous, and ordinary. Also, one of the four was killed by a bluejay the moment it left the nest.
I have two young adult children, just on the very edge of beginning independent life in the world. I cannot help but fear for them. I think about the woodpecker chicks, about the weeks of exhausting and dangerous work the parents put into these children. I also know that baby animals die. I know that fledging is one of the most terrifyingly dangerous moments in a bird's life. I know that it is absolutely foolish to get attached to wild animals.
But we do, we humans. We care, we empathize. And bluejays also need to eat, to feed their young.
Three chicks fledged successfully, I tell myself. This woodpecker lineage will live on.
Yet, still, I empathize, and empathy is incredibly painful.
I have two young adult children, just on the very edge of beginning independent life in the world. I cannot help but fear for them. I think about the woodpecker chicks, about the weeks of exhausting and dangerous work the parents put into these children. I also know that baby animals die. I know that fledging is one of the most terrifyingly dangerous moments in a bird's life. I know that it is absolutely foolish to get attached to wild animals.
But we do, we humans. We care, we empathize. And bluejays also need to eat, to feed their young.
Three chicks fledged successfully, I tell myself. This woodpecker lineage will live on.
Yet, still, I empathize, and empathy is incredibly painful.